The Hardknott Pass vies with Rosedale Chimney in North Yorkshire for the title of steepest road in England, with both achieving a gradient of 1 in 3 (about 33%).

The road snakes its way up the Duddon Valley side of the pass.

Hard Knott Fort (known to the Romans as MEDIOBOGDUM) is near the Eskdale end of Hard Knott Pass The fort, one of the loneliest outposts of the Roman Empire, built between AD120 and AD138, is on a spectacular site overlooking the pass which forms part of the Roman road from Ravenglass to Ambleside and Brougham at Penrith.